MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Unique shipwreck preserved in Print.

As the famous American emigrant ship Charles Cooper finally falls apart in the Falklands Islands nearly 150 years since she first set sail, the story of this splendid vessel will not be forgotten, thanks to a timely book giving the first comprehensive account of her history ? her construction, travels and ultimate fate. She is now preserved in full splendour in print and in photographs, illustrating her years gracefully sailing the world's oceans and as a decaying but useful hulk in Stanley Harbour.

The author is Michael Stammers, Keeper of the renowned Merseyside Maritime Museum, whose latest research in the Falkland Islands has been largely financed with a grant from the Shackleton Scholarship Fund.

His painstaking research is transformed into an interesting book, entitled "Charles Cooper ? The Last Emigrant Ship" published by National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside. It appears as the wreck is finally being dismantled to prevent danger of obstruction to other shipping. But it is hoped that parts of her can be preserved inside a museum building. The book is a reminder of how historically important are the Charles Cooper and other vessels in Falkland Islands maritime heritage.

As Michael Stammers explains, the Charles Cooper was a unique link to America's wooden sailing ships when its mercantile fleet was a dominant force in world shipping, from the early 19th century. The Charles Cooper,1,000 tons, was launched on the 11th of November, 1856, at Black Rock, Connecticut, and spent only ten active years at sea, trading between Antwerp and New York, carrying many of the early emigrants to the United States. She also carried cotton from New Orleans to Liverpool and varied cargo to and from other ports including Calcutta, Colombo, Boston, San Francisco, Melbourne, and Guam.

Bought by New York Museum

Battered by wind and wave, her last fatal voyage from Philadelphia to San Francisco in 1866 ended prematurely when she took refuge and was condemned as unseaworthy in Stanley Harbour, her last resting place in one of the most extensive shipping graveyards in the world. She was to survive for nearly another 140 years, performing valuable service as a warehouse for the Falkland Islands Company.

Her importance was recognised by New York's South Street Museum ? named after the city's famous shipping wharves. The museum purchased the wreck in 1968, with a donation of five-thousand dollars from the New York Journal of Commerce, the shipping newspaper which had reported the ship's arrivals and departures. She was declared then to be "the most important American sailing ship surviving from the 19th Century? It is hoped that her remarkably well-preserved wooden hull can some day be placed on exhibit in the port of New York". Sadly, this was never to be. It proved impossible to move her.

Threat from storms, invaders ? and sea worms

But American interest re-awakened awareness of the unique maritime heritage which was protected by local legislation in 1977. Michael Stammers' interest began when he took part in the museum's 1978 survey of the Charles Cooper.

The Charles Cooper's American chestnut frame had withstood storms and threat from Argentine invasion troops in 1982 foraging for fuel. They were prevented from chopping up the wrecks when the curator of Falklands Museum, John Smith, intervened to impress upon the Argentine military authorities the importance of the Islands' maritime heritage. The final fatal attack came from much smaller but more destructive invaders, two pernicious sea worms called the teredo and the gribble which multiplied in the 1990s to destroy her from within, eating away at her crumbling woodwork.

Praise for Falklands' archives

Michael Stammers is also the author of a monograph on the Liverpool built sailing vessel, the Jhelum, which lies in Stanley Harbour. He has provided data on the Welsh ship, Fleetwing, for the Maritime Wales historical society.

His work has also contributed ideas on how to prolong the Falklands' fascinating repository of maritime history, sadly deteriorating and costly to preserve and renovate.

Michael Stammers gives special thanks to the Falklands Government Archivist, Jane Cameron, and her assistant, Tansy Newman, to John Smith, who carried out the first detailed study of the Charles Cooper in 1970 and helped with subsequent research, and to the Shackleton Scholarship Fund. This fund awards grants in memory of the Antarctic explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his son, Lord Shackleton.

The London Committee Chairman and Founder of the fund, David Tatham, has congratulated Michael Stammers, saying "It is very encouraging when a Shackleton Scholarship leads to such an interesting and handsome piece of research".

Harold Briley, (MP) London.

Categories: Falkland Islands.

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